Three takeaways from Clemson basketball's exhibition game against Newberry

CLEMSON — Clemson men's basketball gave fans a first look at the 2023-24 team with an exhibition game Wednesday against Division II Newberry College at Littlejohn Coliseum.

The Tigers had no trouble with the Wolves, winning 90-39. Clemson shot 54% from the field, went 11-for-32 from beyond the arc and pulled down 55 rebounds for 30 second-chance points.

Here's what we took away from the exhibition before their regular season tips off Monday (7 p.m. ET, ACCNX) against Winthrop.

A healthy PJ Hall returns

Senior center PJ Hall is back for another year after entering the NBA draft process without hiring an agent and later opting to return to school. Hall wasn't fully healthy for all of last season as he worked his way back from a pair of offseason surgeries. Nevertheless, he tied for the team lead in scoring with 15.3 points per game.

This season, Hall is fully healthy from the start, and he looked it in the exhibition. In his 13 minutes, Hall scored a game-high 14 points. He went 6-for-8 from the field and 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, with one rebound.

First look at Syracuse transfer Joe Girard III

Graduate transfer guard Joe Girard III is the replacement for Brevin Galloway, though he's more of a ballhandler and less of a driver than Galloway was. Girard, a transfer from Syracuse, brings highly touted 3-point shooting to the Clemson roster. He was third in the ACC in 3-point percentage (38.1%) among players with at least 2.5 made 3s a game last season.

Girard's Clemson debut saw him shoot 2-for-5 from beyond the arc and 3-for-7 from the field. He added eight points and three assists to his stat line in 15 minutes.

Girard's defensive development is the thing to watch this season. He's coming from a Syracuse defense that relied an uncommon amount on zone. Now he is having to adapt to Clemson's defense after four seasons in a vastly different system.

"There's a lot to learn," coach Brad Brownell said. "But he's a very willing participant, and the more we do, the more experience he's going to get."

Rotation at the 3 spot to replace Hunter Tyson

Clemson has a tall task to replace Tyson, a versatile wing who led Clemson in rebounds per game (9.6) and tied Hall to lead the Tigers in scoring (15.3 points per game) before being drafted by the Denver Nuggets.

The main candidate to replace him at the 3 spot, at least when Clemson goes with a big lineup, is NC State graduate transfer Jack Clark.

Clark averaged nine points and seven rebounds while starting for a Wolfpack team that made the NCAA Tournament last season. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward has been recovering from multiple offseason groin surgeries and missed some of the Tigers' preseason practices.

Clark played 17 minutes with five points on 2-of-6 shooting, and had six rebounds and two blocks.

MORE CLEMSON BASKETBALL: Why PJ Hall has been Clemson basketball's 'best recruit' under coach Brad Brownell

Clark didn't actually start at Tyson's old spot against Newberry, but he was first off the bench. Chauncey Wiggins got the start. Wiggins, a 6-10, 205-pound sophomore, is the other rotational option when it wants a bigger lineup. He had seven points on 3-for-5 shooting in 15 minutes.

"It's both those guys," Brownell said of Wiggins and Clark. "And who knows? They can play together some, certainly."

Christina Long covers the Clemson Tigers for the Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at clong@greenvillenews.com.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Three takeaways from Clemson basketball's exhibition vs. Newberry